10 DECEMBER 2016

Gennady Golovkin, The Fighter Nobody Wants

By Clive Bernath: One of the best pound for pound boxers on the planet takes centre stage at the Salle des estoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Saturday night but for some reason Gennady Golovkin’s latest world middleweight title defence against 33 year-old Ghanaian Osumanu Adama has pretty much gone unnoticed. There could be a number of reasons for this oversight and one could be that Adama will prove no match for the incredibly hard punching champion.

If past form is anything to go by then Golovkin should indeed improve his ledger to 29-0 and record his 26 stoppage. But the real reason I suspect this particular fight has failed to whet the appetite of die hard boxing fans is that he is such an accomplished all round boxer that none of the other champions appear remotely interested in sharing a ring with him. Yes he’s that good. You see when someone like Golovkin carries dynamite in both hands and is a deceptively good boxer it is not surprising that the three other world champs, Sergio Martinez(WBC),Felix Sturm(IBF) and Peter Quillin(WBO), do not want any part of him.

It seems that Golovkin is such a fearsome fighting machine that he will inevitably be forced to move up a division without having the opportunity to unify the division. That is certainly a view held by his respected trainer Abel Sanchez;

"The truth is that nobody wants to fight Gennady," saidl Sanchez. "He is too good and even in sparring world champions are reluctant to share the ring with him - there is a lot of talk, but not a lot of action."

Understandably, one man that is prepared to talk and walk the walk is Saturday night’s sacrificial Lamb, Adama. The tough African, who boasts a record of 22 wins, against three defeats, has never been stopped and fully expects to outbox the Kazakhstan born boxer.

“The difference with me is that I’m not scared of Golovkin,” Adama said. “Most of his opponents are too scared before they even get in the ring. I’m not going to run. I’m going to outbox him from the start, and my hand speed will be the difference.”

The biggest mistake most fighters make with Golovkin is that they concentrate too much on avoiding his big punches and tend to forget he also has an excellent boxing brain and technical skills, something Adama will find out to his cost on Saturday night.